11/5/2022
RawNews1st – A 1-year-old child brought to a local hospital on Halloween has died of a fentanyl overdose, the East Baton Rouge Coroner said, spurring a police investigation.
An autopsy performed Nov. 1 showed 20-month-old Jahrei Paul died of acute fentanyl toxicity, East Baton Rouge coroner Beau Clark said in a statement Friday morning. Shane Evans, a spokesman for the office, previously said the child died after being brought to a local hospital on Halloween.
Clark’s office is still investigating how the child was administered the deadly opioid.
Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sgt. L’Jean McKneely confirmed that the police department is investigating the death and said that detectives have identified a suspect. He declined to identify the suspect’s relationship to the child.
McKneely said a male relative dropped the little boy off at the hospital on Halloween night, then quickly left.
The death is the second this year in Baton Rouge of a young child due to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that has driven surging overdose deaths in south Louisiana and nationally.
Louisiana officials in August opened a probe into the state’s Department of Children and Family Services after 2-year-old Mitchell Robinson died from a dose of fentanyl despite doctors having twice flagged risks to the child’s safety in the months before his death.
The case has raised scrutiny of DCFS, which struggles from chronic underfunding in recent years.
Later Friday, The Advocate | The Times-Picayune reported that Paul’s family already had a lengthy history with DCFS, according to sources and case documents the newspaper obtained.
The documents show the agency had validated reports of abuse or neglect against Paul’s mother in 2016, 2018 and 2021.
DCFS spokesperson Catherine Heitman said Louisiana law prevents the agency from revealing any details about cases of child abuse or neglect. Heitman added, however, that DCFS is “deeply grieved by the death of this child.”
“Despite our profound workforce challenges, we are fully committed to investigating cases according to best practices and to the best of our ability,” she said.
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